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1051 Merriam Lane - Kansas City, KS 
by Cathy Shellmp;nbsp;
May 2000

The Boulevard Drive-in Theater opened its screen to the public in 1950. Now with Y-2-K, it is celebrating its 50th year anniversary, and owner Wes neal (in his 70's) is still owner and operator of the theater. Located in the heart of Kansas City, the theater is also home to Swap-n-Shop every Saturday and Sunday. Says Wes, "during the slow years, it kept us going." 

Now, Wes claims to have the 1^st digital drive-in theater sound in the world. And what a sound. With the digital sound system, and a frequency tuned into ones own automobile stereo, the sound is truly of epic size. And before the movie of the night is featured on the original screen of the 50's, (complete with playground for the kiddies underneath), Wes plays classic songs, hanging movie safety tips, along with classic popcorn, hotdog and ice cream promos. 

He has even been featured in numerous TV appearances for local news stories, documentary TV specials about the Kansas drive-in movie theaters (there are only 8 left in the state), and is also the filming site of a PBS KCPT Channel 19 summer movie fest to be televised as "Deja Vu Theater". 

Mr. Neal also has the marquee of the Boulevard in miniature form, complete with current film showing, at local cafes as a promo tool, and it appears on shirts business cards. With the Boulevard of Broken Dreams poster series currently featuring Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Humphrey Bogart, and Elvis Presley, available in book stores, old cafes, and books, Wes has found that the concept of packaging the 'Boulevard to relive movie magic' has been working for him, and it's now in digital sound. 

In the 50's, trying to lure viewers to the Boulevard theater took Cinemascope and 3-D creature features. Today, owner Wes Neal has tied into oldies radio stations with half price nights and 'show & cruise', a Sonic drive-in (fast food chain) and custom cars that cruise to the movie after eating burgers, fries, and a milk shake. 

In the concession stand (which is located in the center of the drive-in) Wes has placed his wall-of-fame styled with a lot of newspaper articles, arial photos of the drive-in, an actual 1950s photo of 2 love birds watching the movie, and a banner stating that the Boulevard sound system is the world's first digital drive in. 

There's even an old time radio theater styled bit that features the actors in a mystery to find and solve "Mystery of the Boulevard Drive-in theaters' Owner" (which will be on audio cassettes). Well, this writer can tell you one thing for sure, the Owner Wes Neal has been at the Boulevard Drive-in for 50 years, and now he's a digital sound pioneer named wild wild Wes Neal.